Feliz Cumpleanos
by corneroffandom
Summary: A simple mistake has long reaching affects.


Ricardo Rodriguez' birthday is February 17th. There is no ifs, ands, or buts about it. He is an Aquarius through and through (despite being on the cusp of Pisces as well). Everyone who knows him knows that little fact... except for, perhaps, the most important person in his life, Alberto Del Rio. His employer, the man he spends the bulk of his time with. Though he didn't realize the error until almost four months into their working relationship, and by then it was just too humiliating to even attempt to correct.

But it's not Alberto's fault, not many things _are_. Some of the blame can fall on the company that had provided Ricardo's employment record to Del Rio when he'd been calling around from place to place for a person with the skills to be a ring announcer, but most of the blame can fall on Ricardo himself. After all, it may have been the company's faulty information that got him into this mess to begin with, but it'd been his inability to speak up and say that Alberto had the wrong information that kept him there.

So he accepts the date as his alternate birthday, as it were, and stands quietly by when Alberto begins singing Feliz Cumpleanos to him during Tribute to the Troops, beyond humbled by this. Wrong date or no, that Del Rio would make such a public demonstration for him, it would be foolish to let such a small detail as _that_ ruin the moment.

But it all ceases to matter only a few months later when Del Rio tires of the downward spiral his career has been in for a long time, trying to determine what the weak link in it all is, where he needs to make changes at. In the end, he decides that that weak link is Ricardo and, ironically enough, _on_ his actual birthday, he fires him for the whole world to see after yet another loss that really Ricardo wasn't even indirectly involved in, because he was laying on the outside, downed from nearly the first minute of the match after Big Show had laid him out with another of his punches.

It's hard, impossible even at first, for Ricardo to consider where to go from here but he still has a WWE contract- that all people working in the company in any capacity is required to sign- and he slowly gets Booker T on his side, changes it from an announcer's contract to a wrestling contract and begins competing. Some take pity on him, he has no doubt, and some are probably just there because Booker dropped a few hints that anyone willing to help him out would maybe be looked upon more favorly when it came to match-making time, but soon enough guys like Zack Ryder, Ted DiBiase and even Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd are offering to assist him in the gym, and he's not dumb enough to refuse their assistance, no matter how it comes to be.

He still loses more than he wins, but he's getting better with each match slowly, and he thinks if anything perhaps Alberto will at least see that Ricardo isn't a complete failure. His fake birthday rolls around again and despite how he'd been dreading it, it passes uneventfully. He doesn't even see Alberto that day, and it's just as well. His eyes sting enough just staring at the calendar and remembering how he'd sung Feliz Cumpleanos to him the year prior, the last thing he needs is to honestly lose it in front of his former employer.

On February 16th, he's sitting in the locker room, laughing at Heath Slater when the wanna-be band leader rolls his eyes and smacks him upside the head teasingly. "So, your birthday tomorrow. Doing anything?"

He chuckles, leaning over to unlace his boots. "I haven't decided." It just happens that they're in California, where he'd lived for a great many years before getting signed to the WWE as Alberto's ring announcer, and he thinks he'd like to stay for a day or two, revisit some old stomping grounds, catch up with some friends... He's still working the details out in his mind when he notices a strained expression on Heath's face, his brows furrowing as he follows his gaze, suddenly worried. "What's wrong, amigo-"

His voice dies away when he realizes that Del Rio is standing in the doorway, a tight look on his face. They haven't seen much of each other the past year, both taking great steps to avoid the other as much as possible, so for this to happen now, Ricardo can't comprehend it. "Your birthday's in December," he finally speaks up, his voice ringing out with certainty despite the look on his face. "I remember. It coincided with Tribute to the Troops that one year."

He glances over at Heath, who is staring back at him with a pensive grimace on his face. He'd never spoken out against his employer after the firing, simply shouldering the burden of picking up the pieces as quietly as he could, but those who'd stepped up and gotten close to him after everything- which was a slow, hard road, because he had difficulty trusting anyone for a long time- knew anyway, just how badly the firing had broken the former ring announcer. How he would look away whenever Del Rio was nearby, or go deathly silent if he should be brought up in conversation. "Hey, man, look-" Heath starts to say, standing up like he's about to order the Mexican aristocrat from the locker room, but Ricardo moves first, resting a hand on his arm.

"No," he breathes. "I'm ok, Heath." The West Virginian looks at him uncertainly and he smiles mirthlessly. "I am, I promise." He's not sure what he's thinking, or if this is even a good idea, but he tries anyway, takes a deep breath. "Can we... have a minute?" Not dipping a toe in, no, he's diving into the deep end and it scares and warms him all at once. A year ago, he probably wouldn't have had the strength. Granted, he's not sure he does now... but at least he's going to try.

Slater looks warily from Ricardo to Alberto and back again, realizing that his friend isn't going to back down and Del Rio apparently isn't going anywhere. "Are you sure?"

"Si." Ricardo has to smile as Heath, still reluctant, grabs a couple of things and brushes by Del Rio to exit the room. He pauses half-way out of the room and looks back, silently confirming that he won't be going _too_ far away. Once he's finally left, Alberto enters and sits down on the bench, looking around the room with a blank look on his face. Ricardo's not sure what to think, how to even address this issue, but finally he speaks. "Why does it matter to you when my birthday is?" Maybe sounds a little harsh in retrospect, but after dedicating his life to this man for over three years and the brushoff he'd received, he can't feel too guilty about it.

"Why did you tell me it was December if it was February?" he asks, looking down at his hands.

"_I _didn't tell you anything," Ricardo sighs, reluctantly accepting that his long-kept secret will finally be revealed. "My employment record had the wrong date on it, and by the time I realized that, it was too late. I ultimately decided not to cause trouble and continued on treating December 19th as my birthday until..." He falls silent once more, biting his lip.

"Is it the only thing you kept to yourself while working for me?" Del Rio inquires, voice quiet even as he finally looks up at Ricardo. "Was there... anything else you didn't let me know to 'not cause trouble'?"

If there were, it was all water under the bridge, things Ricardo had let go or forgotten about long ago. His birthday being the only relevant thing still, he shakes his head. "No, El- ... No." Mortified at his near slip, he looks away and swallows.

"I see." They sit in strained silence for awhile longer, Ricardo trying not to fall back into the memories of how things _had_ been. Too much time had passed, he's different and... it almost seems like... Alberto is different as well, especially if he would care enough to take the time to come in and ask about Ricardo's birthday. But perhaps, his former employee reflects, he'd always cared in his own way and just could never properly show it due to being blinded by his own ambition. Both men sigh at the same time, Ricardo's head shooting up as Alberto glances at him, a small smile on his face. Their eyes lock for the first time since the firing and it's like things finally just... click into place.

All of the pain, all of the regrets, everything that came as a result of the firing nearly a year ago, wash away as quickly as it'd come. Ricardo swallows and closes his eyes as Alberto stands up and turns back to the door, the moment passing. Their careers are on different paths now, there's no turning back, but perhaps...

"Ricardo?" Alberto murmurs at the door. "Feliz Cumpleanos for real this time."

... they can slowly regain their friendship from here.

Ricardo smiles.


End file.
